Bailey Haffner, 13, left, plays with her sister Hadley, 8, while doing yard work in front of their home in Denver’s Lowry area. The Haffners recently moved from Orlando, Fla. The city’s growth this decade has outpaced all but one of its suburbs. <!–IPTC: LOWRY ,CO–MARCH 17TH 2009– Bailey Haffner, 13-years-old, left, plays with her sister, Hadley, 8-years-old, while doing yard work in the front yard of their home in Lowry Wednesday afternoon. The Haffner family moved recently from Orlando Florida to the Lowry neighborhood. THE DENVER POST/ ANDY CROSS–>

A U.S. Census Bureau report released today shows Denver grew faster last year than all but one of its surrounding suburban counties.

“That is amazing. It doesn’t surprise me (it grew), but I didn’t realize it was at such a fast rate,” said Denver City Councilman Michael Hancock.

Denver wasn’t the only growth superstar in Colorado, according to the report. The Greeley metro area, consisting of Weld County, was the fourth-fastest growing metro area in the nation since 2000.

And five Western Slope counties, led by energy-rich Garfield County, ranked in the top 10 in population gains in Colorado in the 12 months ending in July 2008.

The report showed Denver’s population grew 2.7 percent in the 12 months ending July 2008, adding about 16,000 people since July 2007 and falling just short of 600,000.

Only Douglas County, at 3.5 percent, grew faster in the seven-county metro area. It’s the first time this decade that Denver has grown faster than most of its suburbs.

Jeff Romine, chief economist for the Denver Office of Economic Development, said a resurgence in many of Denver’s neighborhoods combined with a strong job market through the first half of last year led to the surge.

“It’s two-fold. One is the job growth,” Romine said. “Secondly, it’s the return to the urban core phenomenon.”

Hancock has seen it in his district, where the Stapleton, Green Valley Ranch and Parkfield areas near Denver International Airport have lured residents to Denver.

“A lot of it is the emerging of some terrific neighborhoods that are attracting people,” Hancock said.

Weld ranks nationally

Still, the growth presents challenges to the city, he said.

The city has not done a good enough job keeping families from leaving the city and must strengthen its schools and keep neighborhoods safe, Hancock said.

To the north, Weld County continued to post big population gains, growing 2.9 percent last year and 38 percent since 2000.

The Census Bureau has classified Weld County and Greeley as their own metropolitan area, while other counties such as Douglas are considered part of the Denver metropolitan area.

As a result, the 38 percent growth over the past eight years ranks fourth nationally among all metropolitan areas.

The report also found big population gains on the Western Slope, led by Garfield County with a 3.9 percent increase. That ranked third statewide behind the tiny counties of Ouray and Dolores.

The boom in natural-gas drilling fed the surge, though that has subsided since the end of last year, said Garfield County Commissioner Tresi Houpt.

“We saw hotels crop up in western Garfield County where there hadn’t been any before, that were filled with oil and gas workers,” Houpt said.

Nearby Mesa County grew 3.1 percent because of the energy boom and its continuing emergence as an economic center, said Larry Kallenberger, director of Colorado Counties Inc.

“It’s the hub of the Western Slope,” Kallenberger said.

Visitors turn permanent

Routt, Eagle and Pitkin counties also ranked in the top 10 in the state, but for a different reason, said state demographer Elizabeth Garner.

All three have seen an influx of residents who are converting their vacation homes to primary residences, Garner said.

“They are moving there permanently,” she said.

The census report showed that not every place in Colorado is growing. Sixteen of the state’s 64 counties lost population. Most are on the Eastern Plains.

For example, Cheyenne County has seen its population fall every year since 2000 and has lost more than 20 percent of its residents since the 2000 census.

Kallenberger said every Colorado governor in recent history has promised to help the Eastern Plains counties reverse the losses, but to no avail.

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